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Cell division is governed by the positioning of a cytoskeletal structure called the spindle. Two methods, one based on laser ablation and the other on fluid flow assessments, are now shown to be useful tools for studying spindle positioning.
Non-Hermitian physics enables dynamic control of optical behaviour in real time, such as reflectionless scattering modes, which have now been demonstrated in a chaotic photonic microcavity.
Polarons are quasi-particles formed by impurities together with induced excitations in a surrounding medium. Now, mediated interactions between polarons have been detected using atomic impurities embedded in a Fermi gas of ultracold atoms.
A computational method capable of capturing the effects of electronic interactions and scattering can help interpret the vibrational reflectance measurements in superconducting and bad metals.
Despite the theoretical prediction of spinaron quasiparticles in artificial nanostructures, experimental evidence has not yet been seen. Now it has been observed in a hybrid system comprising Co atoms on a Cu(111) surface.
The phase transition from a topologically trivial state to non-Hermitian conducting edge modes can be controlled by optical nonlinearities, achieving picosecond switching speeds.
It is hoped that simulations of molecules and materials will provide a near-term application of quantum computers. A study of the performance of error mitigation highlights the obstacles to scaling up these calculations to practically useful sizes.
Resolving the structural changes of a deformed glass on the atomic scale is challenging due to its disordered nature. Now, high-energy diffraction measurements show that non-line-preserving atomic displacements in glasses correlate with structural anisotropy.
Filaments of the FtsZ protein can form chiral assemblies. Now, active matter tools link the microscopic structure of active filaments to the large-scale collective phase of these assemblies.
Confined biofilms can shape themselves and their boundary to modify their internal organisation. This mechanism could inform the development of active materials that control their own geometry.
Errors in a quantum computer that are correlated between different qubits pose a considerable challenge for correction schemes. Measurements of noise in silicon spin qubits show that electric field fluctuations can create strongly correlated errors.
There is evidence that K3C60 can host a photo-induced superconducting state. Now, resonant excitation at low frequencies allows this phenomenon at room temperature and low pumping fluence.
Physical realizations of qubits are often vulnerable to leakage errors, where the system ends up outside the basis used to store quantum information. A leakage removal protocol can suppress the impact of leakage on quantum error-correcting codes.
Many complex systems relax slowly towards equilibrium after a perturbation, without ever reaching it. Experiments with crumpled sheets now show that these relaxations involve intermittent avalanches of localized instabilities, whose slow-down leads to logarithmic aging.
The application of high-harmonic spectroscopy to liquid samples shows that the cut-off energy is a material characteristic. This approach may also give experimental access to electron mean free paths.
Observation of a faint Fermi surface inside the pseudogap of an electron-doped cuprate suggests that Cooper pairing is mediated by antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations.
Material characterization of liquids in extreme thermodynamic conditions is a challenging technical problem. Brillouin scattering metrology in an optical fibre design with a sealed liquid core now enables spatially resolved temperature and pressure measurements, using carbon disulfide as an example.
Na3Ni2BiO6 with a honeycomb lattice is found to host a one-third magnetization plateau phase signifying frustrated interactions and indicates that Kitaev interactions can be realized in high-spin magnets.
The origin of nematicity in kagome superconductors has been hard to explain due to other entangled phases. Now, the role of orbital hybridization and coupling is revealed to induce electronic nematicity in the kagome superconductor RbTi3Bi5.